RAZGATLIOGLU FIT FOR MAGNY-COURS AFTER HIGHSIDE DURING DAY 2 OF TESTING
The reigning World Champion suffered a hefty highside on the exit of Turn 5 of Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last weekend during day 2 of testing – but after a trip to the hospital, was back at the track to reveal damage to elbow.
It was a bitter end to Toprak Razgatlioglu’s (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with the reigning World Championship suffering an enormous highside on the exit of Turn 5.
With just 30 minutes of testing remaining for the day, Razgatlioglu was taken to the medical centre first, before further being transported to hospital for examination. Thankfully, the #1 Yamaha rider was back at the track in the evening with his elbow bandaged up for a deep wound, and reported to have been his usual charismatic self.
Giving an update on how the crash happened, Razgatlioglu explains:
“Out of Turn 5, I shifted to second gear and had a big highside, but anyway I am OK. My elbow has some big damage but it’s OK, not a problem to ride the bike.” Razgatlioglu said.
“It’s not broken, so this is good, and we will be able to race at Magny Cours. I think for one week, I keep it in the bandage like now and it should be a fast recovery. In 2020, I did the same on the right side during the save at Jerez, but the next week, I rode because we had a race in Portimao, so it’s not a problem!”
“Normally, we wouldn’t come to this test, but after Most, I pushed the team to come to this test because five weeks is a long break and I need to the ride the bike. We didn’t We didn’t have many SCX or SCQ tyres, we just used the SCX and the other rear race tyres. We have a good set-up for this track as it’s a bit difficult for Yamaha. We worked for rear grip, and we improve it a little bit; we are not further up as we didn’t use the SCQ tyre. I’m not looking at lap times; OK, we are not fast, and this is not good for me, but I’ll be working for the weekend here.”
Pirelli also brought a new front tyre to the Circuit de Barcelone-Catalunya test, which many teams described as an SCQ-style front tyre, something Razgatliogu tried on the second day before his crash.
“I tried it over six or seven laps and it’s good, but then it starts to drop. Anyway, like the SCQ tyre, it works well and gives a lot of grip, so in general I like it.” Razgatlioglu ended.
